Towards a Modular and Flexible SDN Control Language

Abstract

Software Defined Networking (SDN) is a recent paradigm that aims to reshape the way we configure and manage today's networks. To fulfill this goal, SDN relies on control languages to programmatically express the desired network behavior, making it possible to quickly change and innovate within the network. As a consequence, having an expressive and powerful control language will unlock the full potential of this approach and enable new opportunities for developing network control applications. As such, numerous works addressed this issue, where the most recent ones have used network abstractions in order to spare administrators from dealing with the complex and dynamic nature of the physical infrastructure. However, we think that these languages rely on abstractions that are not the most appropriate ones for expressing modular and reusable control policies. In this paper, we present work in progress towards a new high-level, modular and flexible SDN control language. One novelty of this language is to integrate a network abstraction model that allows a clear separation between simple transport functions and richer network services. We believe that this approach will allow administrators to design and deploy control applications that can be easily maintained and reused.